“Generic schedules of spaces have been set aside in favour of understanding the whole home as an holistic environment, tailored to the everyday patterns of life. The resulting sequence of interconnecting spaces doesn’t simply accommodate in a functional manner, but celebrates and brings delight.”

RIBA Award Citation, March 2015

Nestled into the hillside above Holmfirth, the project completely transforms a 1950’s bungalow to provide a home and place of work for the client, a renowned contemporary knitwear designer. The Knitter’s House is conceived as an extension of the moorland landscape. Bedding into the hillside, the roofline forms a deep cleft through the heart of the building before rising up to create light-filled living areas with framed views across Holmfirth and over to the moorland peaks of Holme Moss.

The project creates a series of spaces that capture the best features of the location.

The client’s brief sought to create a building that could be both a home and support an international textile design business. The architecture needed to have the same attention to detail and material quality as the client’s own work. Beyond this the brief was open to making the most of the site. The project takes a small budget and creates a series of spaces that capture the best features of the location; topography, light and views. Rooflights flood the heart of the building with light whilst large windows frame views into the garden on one side and the moors on the other.

The street frontage is restrained and uses a mixture of render and painted brickwork to mask the joint between old and new. Dry stone walling snakes up from the original boundary wall to create new steps. A wide, thick timber entrance door offers a defence to the cold winter winds that whip across the hillside. The ground floor creates the office space for the client’s textile design business, as well as a guest room and storage. A media room burrows into the hillside at the rear, possessing an almost cave-like quality that is further enhanced by narrow slot windows.